Antiochus I of Syria

Antiochus I Soter of Syria (330 BC-266 BC) was the Greco-Syrian king of the Seleucid Empire from 281 to 266 BC. Antiochus I was half-Persian, with his mother Apama being one of the Persian princesses sent to Alexander the Great's generals as rewards. His father Seleukos was Greek/Macedonian.

Biography
Antiochus was the son of Seleukos and Apama, and was Persian and Grecian (Macedonian). When his father was assassinated in 281 BC, he assumed the title of King of the Seleucid Empire, the Middle Eastern remnants of Alexander the Great's empire. With his father dead, Antiochus made peace with Ptolemy I of Macedon and abandoned Macedonia, Thrace, Bithynia, and Asia Minor, allowing some Persian satrapies to take root. Having left Turkey, he made his base in smaller areas of the Levant, encompassing Syria, Lebanon, northern Jordan, and southern Turkey, with his capital at Antioch. In 278 BC, he repelled an invasion by Gaul with Indian war elephants and gained the epithet "Soter", which means "savior". In the First Syrian War of 274-271 BC, he defeated the Ptolemaic Empire, and peace was restored.

In 270 BC Antiochus had regained his strength and prepared for expansion. He captured Susa from the Parthians and also crushed the Palmyran Rebels with the capture of Palmyra in 269 BC. A year later, he bribed the Egyptian city of Sidon into turning over to his forces, causing a war with Egypt. An Egyptian fleet blockaded the Port of Sidon in 267 BC, but Antiochus awaited reinforcements before any real fighting would begin. Soon, he gathered sufficient forces and met three Egyptian armies north of Jerusalem.

Death
Antiochus deployed his troops on a strong defensive position on a hilltop, and defeated three Egyptian divisions by sending his war elephants and cavalry against them. Having defeated one of Egypt's armies, he wanted to make a bold display by charging one of Egypt's generals, Ptahhotep, who was isolated. He charged the Egyptian General's Bodyguard unit, as his army began battle with the Ptolemaic forces. However, Antiochus charged into battle and was hit by an arrow. The arrow felled him from his horse, and he died, having showed off his bravery in battle.

After the end of the battle, Antiochus' body was found and brought back to the Seleucid encampment, where his son Alexander the Builder awaited the sight of his heroic father. The body armor was stripped and given to Alexander, signifying his rise to power as Greco-Syrian/Seleucid king. Antiochus was buried in the Tomb of Kings in Antioch with full honors, but his tomb was desecrated by the Persians when they conquered the city from Rome in the 6th century AD, hundreds of years later.